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Canada is back — ready to do the hard work of peacekeeping — and it’s about time. With a formal announcement on Friday that it’s ready to commit up to 600 soldiers, and $450 million, to support United Nations peace operations the Liberal government ended years of retreat on this vital front.

“We need to do our part,” Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told reporters at a news conference outlining the government’s new stance. But this won’t be as easy as in past decades, when Canadian troops wearing United Nations blue berets helped maintain ceasefires between hostile forces in the Suez, Cyprus and the Golan Heights.

Peacekeeping is more complicated now, requiring a combination of military, political, humanitarian and development skills. Forces in conflict are rarely composed of well-disciplined armies; instead peacekeepers often find themselves dealing with a chaotic mix of tribal militias, terrorist groups, broken states and unprincipled governments.

Where Canada’s troops and resources are ultimately deployed remains to be seen, but an African location seems likely. Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic are all possible candidates.

“We’re taking the time to look at the entire region, talk to the leadership, and then deciding (in) which areas we can have the best impact,” Sajjan said.

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It’s wise to re-engage carefully, especially given Canada’s record of relative inaction in peace operations under former prime minister Stephen Harper. Favouring isolation over UN activism, he allowed a celebrated tradition of Canadian peacekeeping to wither.

Former prime minister Lester B. Pearson won a Nobel peace prize for his work on the Suez Crisis in 1956, and he is considered the father of UN peacekeeping. Canada didn’t shirk in subsequent years, devoting as many as 3,300 soldiers and police to peacekeeping in Cyprus, the former Yugoslavia, Cyprus, the Golan Heights, and Cambodia in 1993 alone.

By earlier this year, however, Canada’s contingent of UN peacekeepers had dwindled to barely over 100.

This poses some very real challenges. Formerly considered experts, there’s worry that Canadian troops’ peacekeeping skills have grown rusty. It’s vital that all sent overseas on UN missions be fully trained for the flood of potential difficulties they’ll face — everything from negotiating with zealots to working effectively with an array of rival communities and agencies.

There’s also concern that this country’s relatively small military may be overextended, given existing operations in Iraq and a NATO commitment to send 450 soldiers, armoured vehicles, and up to six fighter jets to Latvia.

Obviously, it’s essential that Canadian troops be in a position to fully perform all their assigned missions. But it should be possible to do more in the cause of peace.

The Liberal government is going a considerable way in correcting Harper’s neglect. With millions of innocent civilians at imminent risk of brutalization and death in war zones around the world, Canada has a humanitarian duty to take meaningful action in easing the threat. We can’t afford to watch while others shoulder this difficult work.

The Liberal announcement is timely, coming in advance of a major UN peacekeeping conference in London. Canada would very likely have been excluded from that gathering given its limited performance in peace operations in recent years.

That isolation is about to end. This country’s fresh commitment of soldiers and money entitles it to a seat at the conference table — alongside other nations ready to volunteer troops as missions arise. It’s where Canada truly belongs.

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